chap 2
part 2
Then she rushed toward the staircase.
"Arthur!"
she screamed.
"Hang up that phone immediately!"
"This is private property!"
"She tripped!"
"It was an accident!"
Nearby...
Mrs. Hargrove stood motionless.
She had witnessed Sarah fall.
Now...
She lowered her eyes to the clipboard in her hands and pretended to review paperwork.
One maid covered her mouth in horror.
The other leaned against the wall, unable to move.
Arthur never looked away from Sarah.
His voice remained calm into the phone.
"This is the Vance Estate."
"Forty-seven Ridgewood Lane."
"Eight-months-pregnant female."
"Fell from the second-floor landing."
"Possible abdominal trauma."
"Send an ambulance."
"And police."
"Immediately."
Eleanor reached them.
She lunged toward Arthur.
"I said hang up!"
"This is my house!"
"My rules!"
She reached for the phone.
Arthur shifted his body slightly.
Keeping Sarah protected.
Without raising his voice, he said,
"Don't touch her."
Then his eyes met Eleanor's.
"And don't touch me."
Eleanor straightened slowly.
One loose strand of silver hair had escaped her perfect hairstyle.
"You'll regret this, Arthur Hale."
"Twenty years."
"You've worked for this family for twenty years."
"And this is how you repay me?"
Arthur looked directly into her eyes.
His face remained expressionless.
Only his eyes had changed.
Cold.
Hard.
Like steel.
"I caught her."
He spoke quietly.
"I saw exactly what you did."
The color drained from Eleanor's face.
Then returned in a wave of furious red.
From somewhere inside the east wing...
Heavy footsteps approached rapidly.
Private security.
Already responding to the shouting.
Eleanor turned toward the hallway and screamed,
"Security!"
"Get in here now!"
"This man is interfering in a private family matter!"
"Take that phone away from him!"
Sarah lay trembling on the marble floor.
One hand pressed protectively against her stomach.
Searching.
Waiting.
Then...
A tiny kick.
Followed by another.
A sob escaped her lips.
Tears slid into her hair.
Scattered across the marble near her fingertips lay the torn pieces of her baby's ultrasound.
One tiny fragment rested within reach.
It showed only the delicate outline of one little foot.
Sarah stretched trembling fingers toward it.
She picked it up.
And held it tightly.
Arthur's free hand gently covered hers for just a second.
Warm.
Steady.
"I've got both of you."
He whispered so only she could hear.
"The ambulance is on its way."
Above them...
Eleanor continued shouting.
But her voice sounded farther away now.
The sharp edges of the torn photograph pressed against Sarah's palm.
Mrs. Hargrove finally looked up from her clipboard.
For one brief moment...
Her eyes met Sarah's.
Then she looked away again.
Sarah closed her eyes.
She tightened her grip around the tiny piece of her baby's picture.
Something had to change.
She couldn't spend the rest of her life begging.
Not anymore.
But that realization could wait.
Right now...
All she could do was breathe through the pain.
Pray for another kick.
And trust the man kneeling beside her.
Arthur remained exactly where he was.
His body shielded Sarah from the approaching security guards.
The phone remained against his ear.
His voice stayed calm as he repeated the address one final time.
May you like
The sirens still couldn't be heard.
But they were coming.
